What does that have to do with me?

A couple of weeks ago I went to see the debut of Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth. The evidence presented in this movie about global warming and its effects upon the future of the planet gives us an extremely powerful wakeup call. At least one would think so.

Despite the evidence, which, by the way, is universally accepted in the scientific community, our government refuses to see that there is a major problem requiring drastic action. Their response is to call it a natural swing, even though scientists are reporting record breaking numbers for heat indexes and tropical storms across the board.

As I looked at satellite pictures showing the melting of the polar caps, I wondered how we could let it get this far without noticing the changes. More importantly, upon noticing the symptoms of our modern society, I wondered how we could have sat by passively without altering our path.

While the evidence was shocking, I can't honestly say I'm surprised by the extent of the situation or by most folks apathy regarding it. In my observation, people generally see symptoms as an inconvenience to be pushed aside or swept under the rug as quickly as possible. The mentality of our culture has universally influenced our perceptions and resulting behaviors to the point of critical proportions.

Part of wellness is having an ever increasing awareness of what our body needs and wants. The more acutely aware we are the less need for more drastic or intense signals or symptoms to effect change. Better to hear the lion's roar than to feel his breath, as it were. To put it another way, you don't want a heart attack to be the first sign that you're too stressed. Unfortunately for many, it is the first symptom they notice. Sometimes, even such a drastic sign is not enough to illicit change.

Another aspect of wellness is one's realization of the relationship to the bigger picture of life. You affect everything and everything in turn affects you. This includes your relationship to yourself, others, to our environment and planet. We are so intimately connected to our environment that its health and function directly effect our own.

Just as a majority of the population fails to heed the warning of their own symptoms as a need for change, so it is with the symptoms of the planet. Generally speaking, if we feel like we are not responsible for the symptoms that we experience in our bodies, it only makes sense that the same dynamic would (and does) play out when it comes to our responsibility to what happens to the planet.

I had a conversation with a friend of mine about which issues would determine his political vote. One of his issues was how the political out come would affect his financial picture. I pointed out to him that if this global conundrum wasn't quickly addressed the economic views of any given politician wouldn't matter much. Global warming and the associated change in weather patterns will have devastating effects upon countless species, human life and ultimately our economic stability.

From that standpoint, it doesn't really matter whether you're left, right, Conservative, Liberal, Democrat or Republican. All of our political, religious, economic and financial concerns are minuscule when measured against the fallout continued global warming will wreck upon our current way of life.

Unless you've been living under a rock, (and you might be doing just that to try and stay cool) then you've most likely seen all the news reports of record breaking heat around the country and world. If only we could ignore it, maybe it will go away?

But that's not what's happening. Countless species are heading for extinction because they are unable to adapt to the quickly changing environment. While many people don't really care too much about it now, they may change their tune when it begins to affect the food chain. Damage and claims due to the weather are continually increasing causing astronomical monetary and human losses.

How many people have stopped to consider what is going to happen if, and more likely when, the polar caps melt? A multitude of coastal cities will be under water. (It's already beginning to happen.) What effect is that going to have on our economy?

When the symptoms become too great to ignore in our bodies or on our planet, we will eventually come to the point where we will be forced to make a change... if it's not too late.